California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
Farmers in Central California will see their water deliveries stop today.
Earlier this month, the Fresno Irrigation District (FID) Board of Directors made the decision to end most agricultural water deliveries on June 30.
With little to no precipitation occurring in May and June, the Kings River experienced its third lowest October through May snowmelt and precipitation runoff in recorded history. The spring runoff is also projected to be the fourth driest on record. The worsening conditions led to FID not having enough supply to continue water deliveries District-wide into July.
“It has been a critically dry year for not just the Kings River service area, but for the entire state,” said Bill Stretch, FID general manager. “While 2020 was dry at only 54% of average, 2021 will end up being less than half of that. The compounding effects of two extremely dry years has led to one of FID’s shortest ever water seasons. Fortunately, FID was able to deliver water to our growers in a time when many other districts will not be able to make water deliveries at all.”
FID will make water available to purchase for customers along the district’s eastside Enterprise Canal system during the month of July as part of a “Hardship Run.”
The District will also continue to convey water to the cities of Fresno and Clovis throughout the year to their three surface water treatment plants, which keeps most of their wells turned off and benefits groundwater tables.
